To Private's Eyes
by Skoolgrl09
Summary: Private stumbles across Skipper's private journal and finds a hidden love letter written to Marlene inside. What does it say? What will Private think about it? Will he tell the others about the letter? Please read and find out.Warning rating may vary.
1. Chapter 1

" To Private's Eyes"

A note to all readers: Please enjoy the following feature presentation. Thank-you.

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Chapter 1

It was an early spring morning in mid May, at 0700 to be exact, at the Central Park Zoo in New York City, New

York. The penguins, Rico, Kowalski, and Private were all up on the platform in the penguin habitat, stretching

for their daily training routine. They stretched for at least thirty minutes, waiting patiently for Skipper to

come out of the penguin headquarters, but he did not stir.

" What is taking Skipper so long," Kowalski tapped one of his feet impatiently on the platform and put his

flippers on his hips. " Normally, he's out here before we usually are."

" Maybe he's still in the latrine," Private suggested. Rico nodded his head in agreement. " I'll go knock on the

door to see if he's okay." He waddled up to the fishbowl and climbed down a hole that was hiding underneath

it. While in the hole, Private began climbing down a ladder that was attached to a wall. Private neared the end

of the ladder, which led over by the bunks, and jumped down onto the floor. He looked around the area and

became dismayed when he found Skipper was not in the latrine at all. Skipper was just walking around the

headquarters, mumbling to himself, and scribbling something down into some sort of book. Private peered

down at the book's front cover to get a closer look at the title. Skipper glanced up with widened eyes, closed

the book hard, and stuffed it under his pillow, which was on the very bottom bunk.

" Private," Skipper questioned nervously, then became firm. " Aren't you suppose to be up on the platform

warming up for today's training?"

" I already finished that and so did Rico and Kowalski," Private stated in his British accent. " We've been

waiting up there for you for at least half an hour now." He glanced over at Skipper's pillow, noticing that part

of the book was sticking out.

" Oh," Skipper looked down at his feet. " My bad. Thank-you, Private." He rushed passed Private and climbed

out onto the platform through the fishbowl entrance. Private watched Skipper carefully, making sure he was

completely out of site. When all was clear, he quickly grabbed the book from under Skipper's pillow and looked

at the front cover. It was labeled, _Skipper's Private Journal! Classified! Keep Out!._ It was a diary, but to Private, it

was a storybook. He sat down on the floor in front of the bunks and began reading it silently in his head. It

was filled with stuff that was great and stuff that was not so great. There was even a page about Skipper

dying his long, yellow eyebrows black and plucking them to keep everyone else from knowing that

he was part Emperor Penguin. He continued reading it. All was quite interesting to the young penguin, until he

came across different subjects in the book. It threw off the whole flow of the story. He looked them over

several times then began to realize that some of the stuff he had read was actually based on Skipper's life

experiences. " Wow," Private thought. " I didn't know Skipper secretly started a food fight while he was

attending the _New __York Penguin Military School Academy_!" He read on, finding out more interesting facts about

his leader. Next, he stumbled across a page, which was written in a letter format, and read the name of who it

was to at the top left corner of the page. It was a letter to Marlene. Private gasped in shock. " No way,"

Private shouted out loud. " He wrote a letter to Marlene and didn't even send it! I wonder what it says."

Private scratched his chin with his flipper and began reading the letter. Skipper's voice had appeared in his

head and it began narrorating the written words.

" My Dearest Marlene,

You are by far the most strongest and independent female otter I've ever met and have gotten the pleasure

to know. Actually, you're the only strongest and independent female otter I've ever met and known. Anyway,

I'm sorry that I didn't realize this before, but it wasn't until that night we got stuck in the sewer. You were very

brave, smart, and saved me from drowning in the sewer water, which I now thank-you for. Marlene, I'm sorry

for calling you a helpless victim. It turns out; I was the helpless victim all along. Do you know what I'm trying to

tell you here, Marlene? If you don't, these next few words will help understand. You are the water beneath my

flippers and the center of my life. Whenever I look into your sparkling, beautiful brown eyes, my heart starts to

sing songs of happiness. Do you get what I'm trying to tell you now? I love you, Marlene. I'm actually in love

with you. I never thought I would ever fall in love again, until the first day I started talking to you. Do you

remember that day? I do. I even remember when Alice first let you out of the crate and into your habitat. You

know, I never really got a chance to properly welcome you to the neighborhood. Anyways, I know it's a little

too late for this, but welcome to the Central Park Zoo , when and if you get and read this

letter, could you please respond to me in privacy? I'm kind of afraid of what the team might think, after I told

them no romantic relationships allowed, except for Rico, but he has a doll for a girlfriend, so I'm not too

worried about that. Okay, back to the subject. I would really like to know how you honestly feel about me. I

can understand if you're uncomfortable with this and might not want to talk to me, again, but at least you'll

know why I acted around you the way I did. All those times I've been rude to you, argued with you, did that

corkscrew just to impress you into thinking I was a fun guy, smiling at you in the sewer and tapping your

cheek lightly, along with the statement I made about you that night. So, Marlene? What do you say? Will you

have the honor of being my girlfriend or just my best friend? It's your choice.

Love,

Skipper"

" Whoa," Private exclaimed, not even understanding what he had just read. " That was quite a long letter. I

wonder why Skipper didn't send this?" He thought for a moment. " Maybe I should send it to Marlene for him during break time. I'm sure Skipper won't mind." Private carefully began pulling out the page. Luckily, for him, the book was designed like a three-ringed binder. He separated the rings, that were aligned down the middle of the book. Moments later, Private completely removed the page from the rings and quickly shoved the letter under his pillow on the second to the last bottom bunk.

Soon, he heard Skipper hollering at him. " Come on, Private! We don't have all day! Everybody is waiting on

you now!"

" Okay, Skipper," Private chirped back, snapping the rings in the journal closed. He put Skipper's book back

under his leader's pillow and climbed up the ladder to the fishbowl entrance.

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Coming up next in Chapter 2. Trouble arrives, when Private goes to send the letter. Please stay tuned and find out more.


	2. Chapter 2

" To Private's Eyes"

Thank's for the reviews. Now here comes the next chapter.

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Chapter 2

He reached the top of the platform and looked up at Skipper. Skipper had his flippers folded and was tapping

his foot. "What took you so long," Skipper asked impatiently.

" Sorry, Sir. I had to use the bathroom," Private stuttered. The other penguins starred at him, still waiting to

begin their training. They waited at least one hour for Private to come out of the headquarters.

" I suggest that you eat more roughage," Kowalski concluded. Private nodded his head in agreement then

trained with the team until Skipper announced it was break time. During the break, the penguins dragged

out their lounge chairs onto the platform and sat down in them. Soon, all of the penguins fell asleep in the

warm glow of the sun. Fifteen minutes later, Private woke up and noticed that the others were still sleeping.

Quietly, he quickly climbed out of his lounge chair, dashed into the penguin headquarters through the fishbowl

entrance, grabbed the letter that he had hidden under his pillow from earlier, and slid off to Marlene's habitat.

After he got to her habitat, he heard Marlene's loud, piglike snoring. It was then that he decided it would be

better if he put the letter under a small, medium sized rock in front of the entrance way and hope that Marlene

would find it later on.

After the break was over, Kowalski, Rico, and Skipper woke up to find that Private's chair was empty. They

assumed that he had already went inside the headquarters to escape the heat, so they decided to go in as

well. After the penguins went inside, they looked around their home, but they could not find any sign of Private

anywhere. Rico and Kowalski began looking into their swimming pool, which surrounded the entire

headquarters, through one of the portholes in the wall, in hopes of finding the young penguin. While the

others were busy surveying the water, Skipper pulled out his diary and began scanning it for the page he had

left off of shortly before Private had interrupted him. He kept flipping through his journal, looking for it, and

found that the page he was working on was missing. Skipper's head steamed. He marched off to the top of

the headquarters with his diary, leaving both Kowalski and Rico behind starring at the fishbowl entrance

he had went through. They both stood confused by his sudden exit then resumed scanning the pool.

Meanwhile, Private headed back to the inside of the penguin headquarters and plowed right into Skipper,who,

he saw, was holding his diary firmly in one of his flippers. " Private," Skipper asked in an interrogating tone. "

Did you by any chance see a sheet of paper lying around?"

Private gulped. Skipper's eyes narrowed at him, " No, Sir. Why do you ask?"

" Well," Skipper thought, glancing down at his diary. " I was looking through this book and noticed that there

was a page missing out of it and I wanted to know if you've seen it."

" Sorry, Skipper," Private responded. " I haven't." Private began to shake nervously. Skipper studied him

cautiously. Suddenly, Private bursted out into tears. " Oh, I can't take it anymore," he screamed, sobbingly. "

After you went onto the platform this morning, I took your book out from underneath your pillow and read it."

" You what," Skipper scolded. " Private, how could you!? This book, or should I say "my diary", was supposed

to be for my eyes only!"

" Your diary, Skipper," Private raised an eyebrow questionably, wiping tears off of his face.

Skipper glared at Private and smacked himself in the forehead." Yes my diary, Private," Skipper groaned and

stated in a firm tone. " I use it to write down all of my secrets in it whenever I feel the need to blab about

them. Every one of my classified, personal thoughts goes in here. Did you not read the writing on the cover

that told you to keep out?"

" Yes, I did read it," Private said. " I thought it was a story book at first, but as I read the pages, I realized

that it was a book about you asking yourself questions. Oh? By the way. You might want to get that mole on

your bum checked out by a vet as soon as possible. You know? Just in case."

Skipper's face blushed a beet red. He covered his bottom with his flippers then became furious. " You read

about the mole," he asked surprisingly, raising an eyebrow. Private gave a slight smile and put his flippers

behind his back. Skipper recovered quickly from Private's embarrassing, little discovery and uncovered his

bottom. He soon placed his flippers on his hips and glared at Private. " What else did you read?"

" Well," Private pondered, trying to avoid Skipper's furious eyes. " I did stumble across a letter to Marlene. And

since you didn't bother to send it to her. I figured I would take it out and give it to Marlene for you myself."

" Wait," Skipper panicked, grabbing Private by his shoulders. " You sent it over to Marlene? She wasn't even

supposed to know about that letter, at all!"

" She wasn't," Private's heart sank in guilt. Skipper released his grip from Private's shoulders and glared at

him, again. " Then why did you write it?"

" Well, because I…," Skipper stuttered, not knowing how to explain what he wanted to say. " Look you're too

young to understand any of this. I'll explain it to you when you're a little older. Like mine or Kowalski's age."

Just then, Kowalski and Rico heard the two arguing and climbed through the fishbowl entrance to find out

what was happening. Once they reached the platform, they saw Skipper yelling at Private, while Private was

trying to talk to Skipper. They waddled up behind Skipper, trying to listen in on their conversation, but Skipper

noticed them and stormed off into the penguin headquarters. The others watched him in confusion as he

furiously slid the fishbowl over the entrance.

" What was that all about," Kowalski questioned, raising an eyebrow. Rico cocked his head to the side,

starring at the fishbowl.

" I think I just did something terrible," Private ringed his flippers. " And now Skipper hates me."

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Whoa! This is not looking good for Private. Coming up next in Chapter 3. Kowalski and Rico confront Private to help him understand Skipper's point of view. Please stay tuned and find out more.


	3. Chapter 3

" To Private's Eyes"

Thank you for reviewing, now please brace yourselves for this next chapter as Kowalski and Rico try to talk to Private about Skipper. Thank-you.

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Chapter 3

" Now why would he hate you," Kowalski put his flippers on his hips. " It's awful to hate anyone. Now as far

as the word dislike goes. That's fine. But hate? That is just asking for trouble and it is completely wrong to

say or think about to others."

" Okay. He dislikes me then," Private covered his eyes, trying to wipe tears off of his face.

Rico and Kowalski exchanged looks of concern. Kowalski laid one of his flippers on one of Private's shoulders.

" Private, what happened between you two, exactly? That, and, what did Skipper say to you?"

" Well," Private sniffled, uncovering his eyes. Kowalski and Rico stood close by, ready to take in every detail

he uttered out. Kowalski removed his flipper from Private's shoulder, pulled out his clipboard and pencil from

behind his back, and waited patiently to take notes. Private began speaking quietly, worrying that Skipper

might hear him and come back up to yell at him even more. Kowalski listened carefully to the young penguin's

story and wrote down every single word that he had heard. Private explained the whole thing from the time

he saw Skipper writing in his diary, all the way to the time that his argument with Skipper had ended.

Once he was finished explaining, the other two penguins starred at him for a moment. They were still taking

in what he had just told them. Soon, Kowalski spoke up. " Okay," his eyebrows rose. He had already known

about Skipper's crush on Marlene for weeks now, but he needed proof of it first, and the letter from the diary

Private had told him about had pretty much settled that theory. " I can see why Skipper is angry with you

and he has every right to be up to this point."

" Why," Private asked curiously. " What gives him the right?"

" Uh," Kowalski pondered, putting his flipper to his chin. " It goes like…" He paused for a moment, and then

began to speak, again, but in a softer tone. " How should I explain this to you? Skipper has a soft spot for

Marlene and by revealing that soft spot, you've made him feel vulnerable and insecure."

Private raised an eyebrow. " I'm afraid I still don't understand, Kowalski."

" Do you remember Lola, Skipper's ex-wife, the bobble head, hula doll," Kowalski asked, hoping this would

help Private understand.

"Yes," Private responded. " But why are you bringing her into this? The fight between her and Skipper at the

hotel back in Monte Carlo made us all lose a whole week's worth of sleep. That, and Skipper's loud crying

afterwards. What were they arguing over that made Skipper upset and divorce her anyway?"

" I'd rather not go into that," Kowalski stated, recalling that Skipper had told him that he had caught Lola

cheating on him with a Capuchin monkey. " Besides, you wouldn't really understand it if I told you. Anyways.

Do you remember how Skipper was acting around Lola before they even got married?"

" Well, he always wrote her letters," Private responded, trying to remember the past. " That, and he kept

looking at her funny, almost like he saw her step in something."

" Okay. Let's compare that with how he acts around Marlene," Kowalski stated. " Did you notice anything

familiar between the time he was with Lola and now?"

Private pondered until he got a splitting headache. " He did give both of them funny looks and he did

write both of them letters. Only this time, he didn't send any of his letters to Marlene."

" Probably because he was afraid of the same thing happening to him all over again," Kowalski concluded. "

He divorced Lola shortly before we came back here. Remember? So it's going to take him a little more time

before he's even ready for a love life, again."

" Oh," Private finally said. He paused and scratched his head. " Could you repeat that, please? I'm still

confused about all of this." Rico snarled impatiently, ran inside the headquarters, and came back out with his

girlfriend, the Barbie doll. He danced with her, dipped her in his arms, and let out a slight growl. Private

watched in silence. He was now completely lost. Suddenly, Rico coughed up a fake, plastic arrow, poked

himself gently in the bottom with it, and made goofy, smiley faces afterwards.

" Oh," Private squealed with joy. " I get it now. He's twitterpated."

" Twitterpated," Kowalski asked in confusion. " Where in the shrimp did you get that word from?"

" _The Fox and the Hound_," Private stated. Kowalski and Rico both raised their eyebrows at him and frowned.

"What? It's my favorite movie."

" And you couldn't have told us that earlier," Kowalski growled, putting his clipboard and pencil away. " Okay.

Now that you understand part of what's going on with Skipper. It's time that you set things right with him

and get that letter back from Marlene. You can get it back from her, right?"

Private pondered, rubbed the back of his head, and looked over at Marlene's habitat. " Maybe," he

responded with hesitation in his voice." If I can get to it before she does."

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For the record, I give full credit to the creators of the POM for their characters and scenery. I also give full credit for the word " Twitterpated" to the writers of the movie " The Fox and the Hound".Coming up next in chapter 4. Catch all of the action when Private tries to retrieve the letter back. Please stay tuned for more.


	4. Chapter 4

" To Private's Eyes"

For those of you who have noticed that I confused "The Fox and the Hound" with "Bambi" in Chapter 3. I'm extremely sorry about that. I didn't know what I was thinking at the time. I mean, I could picture who was saying the word " twitterpated". It was the owl, but for some strange reason I got him confused with the female owl from " The Fox and the Hound" and managed to swap the two movies around . Oops. My bad. Oh well. blushes and lol. You live. You learn. And Nova Bucker, once again, thanks for pointing that out. I really appreciated that. Now here's the next chapter. Note: Rating may vary.

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Chapter 4

" If I were you. I would head over there right now," Kowalski muttered. " In the meantime, Rico and I will

stay here, keep an eye on Skipper, and try to talk to him about all of this. Make sure he doesn't jump off the

deep end. Alright?" Private quickly saluted the two penguins then ran off to Marlene's habitat. Once he got

there, he looked around the whole area. There was not a soul in sight. Soon, he had found and carefully

lifted up the rock that the letter was placed under and reached for it, but felt nothing but the rocky ground.

Private gasped. His heart raced rapidly. He looked under the rock several times, turning every side of it, but it

was not there. The young penguin then began searching all over Marlene's habitat and then the entire zoo

for it, trying to figure out if it had blown away, but it did not turn up anywhere. All was at a complete loss

until, he saw Marlene standing in the entranceway of her habitat, holding the letter in her paws, and smiling.

He quickly rushed up to her, sliding on his belly.

" Don't read that," Private shouted as he came to a stop, then stood up on his feet in front of Marlene.

Marlene frowned and raised an eyebrow at him. " Why? I already read it."

" You did," Private asked in surprise. It turns out that while he was talking to Rico and Kowalski, Marlene had

woken up, went outside of her habitat for some fresh air, and found the letter.

" Yep. And now if you'll excuse me. I have to go talk to someone," Marlene walked off toward the penguin

habitat.

Private quickly followed behind and stopped in front of Marlene. " Wait," he shouted, almost completely out of

breath. "Before you go. There's something I need to tell you."

Marlene folded her arms, but listened anyway. " Alright. What is it?"

" It's about the letter," Private stated with a guilty tone. " Skipper didn't take it over to your habitat. I did."

" Okay," Marlene looked around the zoo nervously. " Did you by any chance write the letter, too?"

" No," Private shivered in shock. " Skipper wrote the letter, but he was not planning on sending it to you. So,

I decided to send it for him and now he dislikes me."

" Why," Marlene starred at him curiously.

" Well," Private glanced down at his feet and ringed his flippers nervously. " The letter that you just

read, was actually a part of his diary and it wasn't supposed to be revealed to anyone, but him."

" Oh," Marlene looked at Private in surprise. " Wait. Skipper has a diary?"

" I know," Private retorted. " I just found out about that today, too. Did you know that he's not immuned to

the Penguin Pox? Because I read in his diary that he's never had the Penguin Pox before, let alone the shot

to keep him from getting them. Anyways, could you please just hand me the letter back and forget you ever

read it?"

" Why? There's nothing wrong with it," Marlene exclaimed, hugging the letter tightly in her arms. " Besides, I

think it's sweet that Skipper actually wrote this straight from his heart, unlike all the other males I've met,

who just wrote " Like they say in this world, the handsome working man owns the beautiful wife, who stays

home and takes care of the kids"." She scoffed at herself for just saying those words out loud. Private stood

and starred at her in confusion. " Anyways. I've got to get going. See ya, Private."

Marlene marched passed Private. Private stood silent for a moment. " Marlene? The reason why Skipper

didn't want you to see that letter was because he was afraid that the same thing would happen to him the

same way as it did when he was married to Lola."

" Lola," Marlene stopped in her footsteps and turned to Private. " Who's Lola?"

" Only the worst hula dancing, bobble headed cheater, I've ever met in my entire life," an irritated voice

came out of nowhere. It was Skipper, who had decided to come out of the penguin habitat, shortly after

Kowalski and Rico had reasoned with him. He walked up to Marlene and Private.

" Whoa," Marlene stated in a surprised, but confused tone. " Did she have a big ego?"

" No," Skipper tried looking away from Marlene and Private. Private caught a slight glimpse of his leader's

eyes. They were red and puffy from all of the crying he had done earlier inside the penguin headquarters'

bathroom, which he had locked himself in when Rico and Kowalski came to talk to him about his diary and

their conversation with Private. Private began to feel guilty about making him cry and stepped away from

Marlene and Skipper, for fear that he might get into a conflict with them." She was an actual bobble head

doll, dressed up as a hula dancer."

"Oh," Marlene smiled a little bit, trying not to laugh, but not enough for Skipper to notice. " That's interesting.

What happened between you two anyway? How'd you even meet? And why did you marry a bobble head,

hula doll in the first place?"

Skipper lowered his head. " I'd rather not talk about it. It's too horrible to bring up."

" Well then, would you like to go out on a date with me sometime," Marlene smiled widely and talked in a

singy-songy voice. " It might make you feel better and help you forget all about you-know-who." Skipper

raised his head, accidently revealing his irritated, red eyes to Marlene, then looked over at Private.

" What," Private asked as Skipper glared at him.

" She beat you to the letter. Didn't she," Skipper asked quietly. Private put his flippers behind his back and

smiled widely. Skipper groaned and turned his head to Marlene. He began talking apologetically. " Look,

Marlene? I don't think a date is going to make me feel any better, right now. Which is why I didn't want to

send you that letter in the first place. Look. I'm Sorry, but I'm just not ready for a romantic relationship, yet,"

Skipper looked down with a saddened expression on his face. " Look. You're a great woman. I really like you.

As a matter of fact, I'm head over heels, but it's just too soon."

Marlene lowered her head, too, trying to hold back her tears, which had formed during Skipper's speech. " I

understand, Skipper. When you're ready, then can we go out on a date?" She smiled warmly, looking up at

Skipper.

Skipper looked back up to her and starred into her eyes." Of course we can," Skipper responded, smiling,

accepting Marlene's independence in asking him out on a date first, instead of him asking her out first. "Are

you willing to wait for me for however long it takes for me to get back up on my feet?"

Marlene wiped a tear off of her face, which was strolling down her cheek, and smiled. " Yeah. I can wait."

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Aww. Skipper's finally admitted his feelings to Marlene, and face to face, too. That's so sweet. Tear. Tear. Coming up next in Chapter 5. Catch the emotions between Skipper and Marlene as they part and patiently wait to go out on a date. Please stay tuned and find out more. BTW: I made up the Penguin Pox. It's just a penguin version of the Chicken Pox, that's all. Anyways, bye-bye,until the next update.


	5. Chapter 5

" To Private's Eyes"

Thanks for the reviews. They were great. Now here comes the next chapter. This one was a bit tricky to type, but it was adjusted as well as possible. Sorry that this one is a little bit behind the usual schedule. I was going to post this on the 13th, but I had problems with the Document Manager. Anyways, please enjoy. Warning : Rating varies.

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Chapter 5

Skipper spotted the tear that Marlene had wiped off of her face and walked a little closer to her. He kissed

her on the cheek then began to walk away with Private back towards the penguin habitat. Marlene felt her

cheek where Skipper had kissed it and quickly ran in front of him. " Skipper wait," she stopped, putting her

hands out in front of her. Skipper and Private came to a quick hault. " What was the kiss on the cheek for? I

thought you said you weren't ready for a date, yet."

Skipper smiled at her softly." Hey, I said I wasn't ready for a date. I didn't say I wasn't ready to give the

women that I love a good-bye kiss."

" Well in that case," Marlene pondered, grinning from ear to ear, as she moved closer to the lead penguin.

She leaned forward and kissed the tip of Skipper's beak. Skipper stood stunned for a moment, surprised at

Marlene's action, then kissed her back on the lips. Meanwhile, Private, who was about ready to faint, gasped

and quickly covered his shocked eyes. The pair both pulled apart then starred at each other's faces.

Marlene pointed a satisfied finger at Skipper." Now that was a good-bye kiss," she moved away from Skipper

and started walking back towards her habitat. Marlene stopped and turned to look back at Skipper. "

Anyways. When you're ready to start dating, again. You know where to find me." Skipper slightly smiled at

her and nodded his head as he watched her turn around and go back to her home. After Marlene was out of

sight, Skipper quickly turned to Private, who was still shielding his eyes. The lead penguin's heart jumped like

a rubber ball bouncing off of the sidewalk once,only after being dropped from the top of the Empire State

Building. Both he and Marlene had completely forgotten that the young penguin was standing there.

Skipper nervously thought to himself. _Oh, Great!_ " Private," Skipper tapped Private gently on the shoulder. "

You can uncover your eyes. It's safe now."

Private cautiously unshielded his eyes and glared at Skipper. " I wasn't expecting you two to do that! Could

you please give me a warning next time!?"

" I will. I promise," Skipper paused, then changed his tone to guilt. " Look. I'm sorry that you had to see that.

It's just that...whenever my body takes control over me like that, I tend to forget everything else that's

around me, including my team members. Did I mention that I was sorry? Because I think I already said that."

" That's alright," Private gladly uttered out, then something came to his mind. " Skipper? I have a question

for you. What's it like to fall in love? You know? Being "twitterpated", as I and the writers of "The Fox and the

Hound" movie like to call it."

Skipper raised his eyebrows. He was hoping that Private would never ask him that question, at least not until

he was older. "Okay. First of all, "twitterpated" came from "Bambi". I know. You forced me to watch it with

you once on television, since nothing else was on that day and I was bored. And second of all, well, I can't

really explain what it's like falling in love to you," he said as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. " But if

you start getting strange feelings for a woman that you've never felt before, just let me or Kowalski know so

we can help you out. Okay? But for right now, don't worry about it. Alright?"

" Alright, Skipper," Private responded. Both penguins waddled back up to the headquarters and stopped at

the fishbowl entrance. " Skipper? I have another question that I asked Kowalski about earlier. What exactly

happened between you and Lola? You know? Back at the hotel in Monte Carlo, when you two were arguing.

What was that fuss all about?"

Skipper lowered his head and sighed." Like I've already said to Marlene. It's too horrible to bring up. Okay?

Besides, that story would be a waste of time to tell you, anyway."

" Oh, come on," Private stated anxiously." I'll listen. Honest."

" It's not you listening that would be a waste," Skipper raised his voice a little. " It's you not understanding

that would be a waste."

" How can it be a waste, Skipper," Private stated." You can always explain it to me. "

" Well, Private," Skipper stuttered. " I can't explain it to you, only because you haven't experienced what I or

Kowalski have gone through with women,yet, such as falling in love, sharing relationships, heartbreaks,..."

He stopped momentarily, trying not to cry, then quickly recovered himself. " Anyways, experience is the key to

understanding any of this. Do you understand now, Private?"

" I understand, Skipper" Private stated.

" Good," Skipper patted Private on the head. " And Private? Thank-you for sending that letter to Marlene. I

really needed the push."

" No problem, Skipper," Private responded. " Though I am still sorry for taking it out of your diary in the first

place. That, and actually reading your diary."

Skipper shrugged. " Forget about it," he continued on. " It's no big deal. All is forgiven. Besides, if you hadn't

have found out about it first, somebody else would've. Then they probably would've blabbed about it to the

entire zoo, or worse, the entire world. Which reminds me. The neighbors are not to know about any of

this or anything else that you've read in my diary. Okay? I've got a reputation to uphold and I don't want to

be known as the zoo's diary keeping, laughing stock. Alright?" Private chuckled guiltily. Skipper starred at

Private with a raised eyebrow. " What?"

" Nothing," Private put his flippers behind his back and looked away from Skipper. " Just a funny thought

that you said out loud. That's all."

The leader studied the young penguin's facial expressions carefully. Private smiled innocently and made eye

contact with Skipper to keep him from noticing that he was hiding something from him." You are one strange

kid," Skipper shook his head at Private as he moved the fishbowl and entered the building inside of the

habitat. Private wiped his forehead with relief then followed Skipper, who was already halfway down the

ladder. After they were both inside, Skipper cleared his throat to get Rico's and Kowalski's attention, but they

were too busy sitting at the table, talking about what had happened today. Skipper then became impatient

with them and let out a loud whistle, which startled the two penguins. Rico and Kowalski both turned their

heads toward Skipper. " Alright, men," Skipper began. " Due to being behind schedule today, I've decided to

make the rest of the day, a day off." After he had finished making his announcement, the other

penguins cheered, turned away, and began to think of ways to entertain themselves until bedtime.

Private, who was still over by the ladder, decided to entertain himself by watching television. He had waddled

directly passed the table and to the front screen of the box, which had a bunch of buttons below it. The

young penguin scanned the panel and hit the On button. Soon, a " Bambi" movie had appeared right before

his eyes. Private happily clapped his flippers together and sat down. It turns out, that there was a " Bambi

Movie Marathon" on today that the young penguin had been waiting for ever since he had seen the sequel.

He had become so excited about it finally showing on the t.v., that he had almost forgotten how to blink.

Several minutes later, while Private was entranced by the voices on the screen singing " Drip Drop Little April

Showers", Rico and Kowalski were still scratching their heads, desperate for something to do. Eventually, the

two decided to take a break and waddled over to Private, praying that nobody would see them watching

children's movies. The two each took in a deep breath before sitting down next to the youngest penguin.

Once they had sat down, the two each looked around the room cautiously, making sure that the coast was

clear. As soon as it was clear, Rico and Kowalski turned their heads and began watching the

marathon, hastily waiting for a less tormenting way to entertain themselves.

Meanwhile, Skipper decided to entertain himself by laying down in his bunk, relaxing his mind, and thinking

about Marlene. While he was thinking about her, Lola came across his mind. He quickly sagged his face at the

interferring thought then tossed and turned in his bed, trying to think of a way to forget about her.

Eventually, he came back to just thinking about Marlene, again. His face lit up with happiness right away as

he saw her image appear in his mind. Strange enough to him though, the thought of Marlene had helped him

keep his mind off of Lola and allowed him to decide to slowly let go of his feelings for his ex-wife one day at a

time.

At first, Skipper smiled at his decision, because he would have an easier time dating Marlene, but after going

over it in his head a few more times, his heart began to sink. Just the very thought that he would have to

completely forget about Lola and move on to date another woman seemed wrong to him. As a matter of fact,

the thought made him want to burst into tears, because he felt like he was betraying Lola, just like she

betrayed him on their honeymoon.

After thinking about the problem with his decision for a moment longer, he quickly shook his head and tried to

hold back the tears, which had started to form rapidly in his eyes. So far, only one drop managed to escape

and stroll down the side of his face. Without hesitation, he wiped it off and regained control over his

emotions, once more. Soon, he had lost control over them, again then continued tossing and turning,

until he was sore. Before too long, his mind was completely whirled up in thoughts about both Marlene and

Lola. Eventually, the thoughts of the two girls had swirled around in his birdbrain so fast, that Skipper had

became quite dizzy and had to grab ahold of his stomach to avoid losing his breakfast.

About a few seconds later, his stomach had settled down when he decided to stop thinking about both of the

girls for a while and allow his heart to guide him to his true soul mate. After that, due to the exhaustion of his

conflicting thoughts, Skipper had adjusted his head on his pillow comfortably and faced himself toward the

wall, waiting to fall asleep. A few minutes later, he dazily closed his eyes and began snoring like a loud

thunderstorm, hoping that his heart would give him an answer to his soul mate problem somewhere in

his dreams.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

I cannot believe that Skipper and Marlene just did that and right in front of Private of all things. Coming up next in Chapter 6. Find out the rest of the team's reaction, when Private tells them about Skipper's behavior around Marlene. Please stay tuned and find out more. BTW: I'm going camping sometime this week. I don't know when I'll be gone or how long I'll be gone. I'm guessing it's probably for about a couple of days or so. So until then, I don't know when Chapter 6 will be up. Anyways , thank-you for reading this message.


	6. Chapter 6

" To Private's Eyes"

Thank-you for the reviews. I really appreciated them. Now here comes the next chapter. Please enjoy. Thank-you.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 6

While Skipper was asleep, the movie marathon had gone on a commercial break during the first half of the

first movie. During the break, the three penguins had began talking. "So," Kowalski began speaking to

Private in a soft whisper, trying to keep from waking up the lead penguin. " Did Skipper talk to Marlene?

Because I did just see him out there with her a while ago."

"Yes he did," Private responded back quietly, glancing at the t.v. then at Kowalski.

" What did he say to her," Kowalski asked, copying the same thing that the young penguin was doing.

Rico cupped one of his ears to listen for the answer, while he was watching his favorite cereal commercial

about " Cocoa Puffs". From the very first day that he had ever seen that commercial on television, he wanted

to taste the cereal so bad that he had even tried to ask Skipper to buy it for him. To his disappointment, the

lead penguin gave him a fierce look then told him no, because it had contained too much sugar and it would

keep him from staying sharp on missions and while in training.

Rico huffed at the answer then kept on bugging the lead penguin, every waking minute of the day, hoping

that he would change his mind. Soon, Skipper had became infuriated, shouted at him, and put Rico on

maintenance duty for a whole entire week. Plus, because Rico had a crazy personality and kept on asking him

the same exact thing over and over, again. Skipper had began to irritably impersonate the voice of the bird

off of the commercial and began saying to him. " Rico? You're way too coo coo for Cocoa Puffs," the lead

penguin snarled, ruffling his feathers. " And because you're acting as crazy as that T.V. bird, you can forget

about me ever buying that cereal for you. And don't you even think about asking Kowalski or Private for it.

Okay? I've already told them the answer, already."

Skipper glared at the manic penguin, as he left the headquarters, through the fishbowl entrance, taking a

break from the irritation. Rico sagged his shoulders and lowered his head sadly, as he watched the lead

penguin exit. Soon, after he had left, Rico had became so upset with Skipper's decision, that he had stopped

following orders and decided to stand quietly, doing nothing, during the training exercises.

" Rico," Skipper barked, repeating his orders several times. The penguins were now training inside of the

headquarters that day, when Rico decided to go on strike. " Chainsaw! Now!" Rico did not move a muscle. So

far, the only thing that he had done was blink his eyes and grunt. Skipper had then told him that he was

going to give away his Barbie doll girlfriend to king Julien, if he did not obey his orders, but Rico did not react.

Filled with anger and disrespect from Rico, Skipper's eye began to twitch quite actively. The scene had kept

going on for several minutes. Eventually, Skipper had became so tired of scolding at and attempting to

bribe one of his most prepared soldiers for not listening to him, that he decided to apologize to Rico and

buy him the cereal that he had been asking him for. Rico had happily accepted Skipper's apology and

quickly swallowed the box whole, saving it for breakfast the following morning.

The manic penguin was so excited about getting his favorite cereal that day, that he did not want to forget

about it. To avoid forgetting about it, Rico had began watching all of the " Cocoa Puffs" commercials, every

single day of the year. Every time he had watched them, he would laugh at his victory over Skipper, but as

for today, he decided to lay off of the giggles, due to the emotional distress his leader had been dealing with

all day.

Rico sighed as he waited for the commercial to end, then turned his full attention to Private, who was trying

to explain what had happened between Marlene and Skipper. " Well," Private began thinking. " He did

explain to Marlene that the letter she had received was a mistake, told her that he wasn't ready for a date

,yet, and then they kissed. Which I'm going to have nightmares about for the rest of my life, by the way."

" Oh," Kowalski responded, then widened his eyes, staring at Private. " Wait a minute. They kissed? I

thought you said they weren't dating." He squeaked as Rico coughed up a cup of coffee, decaffeinated, of

course, and began drinking the liquid inside of it. Upon hearing what was said, Rico had spat the liquid all

over Kowalski and Private. Luckily, the liquid was warm and did not burn them. Both of them glanced over at

Rico, who had an apologetic look on his face, then quickly brushed the coffee off of their now temporarily

stained feathers.

" They're not," Private retorted, glancing at the television to see if the movie was back on, but it was not.

Instead, the television was now showing a " Gold Fish Crackers" commercial, which all of the penguins in the

habitat had enjoyed watching from time to time. During the commercial, the penguins had continued their

conversation.

" Then why'd they kiss if they're not dating," Kowalski asked curiously, taking his flipper to his chin as he

glanced over at Skipper, who was tossing and turning in his bunk, again. It seemed like he was having a

nightmare of some sort, plus he was muttering something in is sleep that the other penguins were unable to

hear. The three penguins each gave each other a concerned look then continued speaking, once more.

Private shrugged. " How should I know? All I know is that Skipper and Marlene are planning on waiting to go

out on a date. Whatever that is. And Skipper called the kiss, a good-bye kiss. That's all I heard and saw them

do."

" A good-bye ki…," Kowalski slapped himself on the forehead. " Private? Skipper was just saying that as a

means of avoiding the fact that he is ready to date Marlene. It's just that he's still... You know? Hurt and

afraid from last time."

" So what are we supposed to do, then," Private asked, as Rico swallowed his coffee cup then coughed up a

plush toy of Skipper and Marlene, which he had swiped from the Zoovenir shop one day, along with the

plastic arrow that he had used as part of a demonstration earlier. He went to poke the Skipper plush toy in

the bottom with the arrow, but changed his mind when Kowalski raised his eyebrow at him and told him that

the arrow would not work in real life. Rico groaned sadly then swallowed the arrow and the plush toys

whole.

Kowalski then turned his full attention to Private." I say we just let Skipper decide for himself what he wants

to do," he concluded as the marathon came back on from the commercials." And hope that this relationship

works out a whole lot better for him than the one that he had with Lola."

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Whoa! Who knew that Rico would be that peaceful when it came to seeking revenge on Skipper. BTW: I give full credit to the creators of the " Cocoa Puffs" and " Gold Fish Crackers " commercials. Anyways. Coming up next in Chapter 7. Skipper finally receives an answer for his soul mate in his dream, but wonders if it is actually true. Please stay tuned and find out. A note to all viewers: The camping trip that I'm going on isn't until this Friday and I won't be back until sometime on Monday. So Chapter 7 won't be up, until sometime after I get back. Thank-you for reading this message.


	7. Chapter 7

" To Private's Eyes"

Hey, I'm back from the camping trip. It was so much fun. BTW: Thank-you for the reviews. Now here comes the next chapter. It gets kind of weird, but after all, it does go into a dream. Anyways. Please Enjoy. Warning: Rating may vary.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 7

As the three penguins turned their heads back to watch the "Bambi Movie Marathon", Skipper began to

shiver, dreaming about who would be his soul mate. Soon, he had began muttering in his sleep, again.

Only this time, he was speaking louder. " Marlene," Skipper tossed and turned one more time, before putting

his pillow over his face, still able to breath underneath it. " Marlene!?" The other penguins had heard what

Skipper was saying that time and began to worry. They glanced back at him to see if he was all right then

turned their heads back to the television screen to watch the movie, once more, figuring that Skipper was

having a dream.

During his dream, Skipper had pictured that he had been dating Marlene for a while then decided to propose

to her. They were both sitting on a bench at Central Park, just behind the zoo. It was around daytime when

Skipper decided to ask the question that he had been waiting to ask, ever since he had first started dating

Marlene, but wanted to wait to see where their relationship would lead them to. " Marlene," Skipper had said

in his dream, as he pulled out a ring and held it out in one of his flippers in front of Marlene. " Will you marry

me?"

Marlene's brown eyes widened with excitement, as Skipper presented her the small, diamond ring, with

an inscription on the inside of the silver band. The inscription had stated, in cursive, " To Love Forever and

For Always". It turns out, that the ring had used to be Lola's at one point, but it was given back to Skipper

after the divorce. After that, Skipper had decided to keep the ring for the next lucky girl, who would walk

down the aisle and become his wife.

Marlene smiled at him in his dream then gently removed the ring from Skipper's flipper. Happy tears formed in

her eyes as she observed the ring." Skipper," the otter looked at the lead penguin, who was staring at her

with a hopeful look in his eyes. " Of course, I will."

Skipper smiled happily, both inside and outside of his dream. Suddenly, Lola had appeared out of nowhere

and stood at Skipper's side of the bench, giving him an angry look. Skipper's smile had suddenly turned into a

frown. Suddenly, the doll had began talking. Apparently, she was possessed by the spirit of a woman, who

had died in the tour plane wreck in Madagascar. " Skipper," the bobble head, hula doll screamed. " How could

you? How could you leave me for her?" She pointed a wooden finger to the right of Skipper, at Marlene, who,

at the time, was shocked to see the hula doll talking.

" Leave you," Skipper stated, as he blocked Marlene from Lola's sight. " You're the one who betrayed me on

our honeymoon. You're the one who decided to stay with that Capuchin Monkey, even though I had begged

you a thousand times to come back to me. But you didn't come back to me, now did you? So technically, you

left me."

" But," Lola curled her wooden hands, with tears forming in her painted eyes. " I thought you loved me."

" After seeing that Benedict Arnold display," Skipper folded his flippers. " How could I? Which is why I

chose to divorce you in the first place. It's over between us Lola. Way over. I'm sorry, but you've had your

chance to be with me forever and you've lost it."

The doll gave Skipper a narrow eyed look. The lead penguin gave it back. " But, Skipper. You could give me a

second chance. Please? I promise I won't cheat on you anymore."

Skipper smirked at her and scoffed. "Does it look like I was hatched yesterday," he glared at her. " Hello? You

had already broken that promise when you were married to me. How am I supposed to trust you, again,

after you had nearly tore my heart into a million, unrepairable pieces, huh?"

" Forgive and forget," the hula doll shrugged, with a hopeful smile on her face.

" I don't think so," Skipper responded with a sassy tone in his voice. " And besides, I've already found a new

love in my life and that would be Marlene." The lead penguin turned around and smiled at Marlene. Marlene

smiled back. Skipper then turned his head back to the doll.

" Marlene," Lola cocked one of her painted on eyebrows. " What kind of a name is Marlene?"

" It's my kind of name, you heartless traitor," Marlene snarled, peeking from behind Skipper. " Look. I know

that you want Skipper back, but it's too late. Skipper's already made his choice very clear to you. He's with

me now. So I suggest that you leave and find some other poor guy you can cheat on, who's actually foolish

enough to stay married to a two-timer like you. Okay?"

The bobble head, hula doll's face suddenly turned red, as smoke began rising from the top of her head. "

Fine," the doll turned around to leave. " Be together for all I care, but don't come crying to me if things don't

work out. So,good-bye!" Just as Lola began to leave, a Capuchin monkey, on a flying carpet, swooped down

and picked her up off of the ground.

She let out a scream for help, as the monkey held her tightly by one of her arms, with one of it's feet, while

steering the carpet with the other, towards the clouds. As they got higher up into the air, Lola's scream had

become more faint. Soon, silence had occurred and she could no longer be heard from below.

Skipper and Marlene, who were still sitting on the park bench, dropped their jaws as they watched them

disappear into the New York City sky, forever. " Well, " Skipper said, as he glanced over at the otter. " Now

that Lola's officially out of my life. Where were we?" ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Adios, Lola. See you never.( evil chuckle) And the monkey on the flying carpet thing? That was one of the weird, random parts of the dream besides the possessed talking doll. Anyways. Coming up next in Chapter 8. Catch the tail ending of Skipper's dream. Also catch the action as Skipper begins to question his dream. Please stay tuned for more.


	8. Chapter 8

" To Private's Eyes"

Thanks for the reviews everyone. They were awesome. Now here comes the final part of Skipper's dream, along with Skipper's questioning of it. It was a bit tricky to type and was read and revised several times, like all of the other chapters to stories that I've typed and published on this site, but I believe that I worked it out okay. Though I am thinking about revising it, again, since there were a few last minute additions. Anyways. Please enjoy. Thank-you.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 8

Skipper smiled lightly at Marlene, who was still holding the ring firmly in her paws. " Preparing for our future

wedding," Marlene stated, as she slid the ring onto one of her fingers. She admired it. It was a perfect fit. Of

course, then again, the ring used to be worn as a bracelet by Lola, because her fingers were too tiny.

Skipper watched her as she looked at the ring. " So," Skipper put his flipper around Marlene's shoulder and

widened his smile. " When shall we plan our future wedding?" Just as she was about to answer him,

somebody woke Skipper up from his dream, with loud whispers in his ear. The lead penguin had opened his

eyes to see who it was. He widened his eyes to find that his team was standing at the side of his bunk,

staring at him. Apparently, they were done watching the " Bambi Movie Marathon" and did not have anything

else to do, but wake their leader up from his nap. Skipper cocked his eyebrow at his team, still resting his

head on his pillow. " Can I help you, men?"

" It's almost two-o'clock in the afternoon, Skipper," Kowalski stated, pointing at the clock. " You've been

asleep since eleven-o'clock this morning, not to mention that it's two hours past lunch time and you had not

even eaten anything since six-o'clock this morning."

" Yeah. And," Skipper yawned as he climbed out of his bunk. His team moved off to the side, clearing a spot

on the floor for their leader. " What about it?"

" We didn't want you to eat too late of a lunch, which is why we woke you up. That's all," Private said,

looking at Skipper. Skipper glared at him with a look of exhaustion. Suddenly, his stomach began to growl

loud enough for his team to hear. He quickly grabbed his stomach, trying to keep it quiet, then told his team

that he would be fine until the six-thirty evening dinner. The team stared at the lead penguin, eyes widened

and worried. They all knew very well that Skipper had once gone a whole week without eating anything, right

after his divorce with Lola, and ever since he did that, his bloodsugar had stopped allowing him to go even a

full twelve hours without passing out from hunger." So," Private ringed his flippers, trying to take everyone's

mind off of Skipper's howling stomach. " How did you sleep?"

" Great," Skipper stretched, trying to wake himself up. " I had the most interesting dream. It was about…" He

stopped dead in his tracks and looked over at his team, who were all giving him blank expressions. " Never

mind."

" What," Kowalski cocked his eyebrow at Skipper.

" It's nothing," Skipper looked away from his team, getting grouchier from lack of food, every second. " I

forgot about it anyways."

" Since when do you forget an interesting dream," Kowalski kept a fixed stare on Skipper, knowing that

he had once told him that he never have and never will forget any of his dreams, especially the

interesting ones.

" Since just now," Skipper flinched nervously, stumbling over every word that came out of his beak. The

team put their flippers on their hips, knowing that he was lying to them. The lead penguin rolled his eyes

and sighed. " Alright," Skipper looked around the headquarters then at his team. " I'll tell you, but I'm not too

sure about whether or not it's a good sign for me to follow, plus I don't even know if I'm interpreting its

meaning right. Okay?"

" A sign, Skipper," Private scratched his head as Rico coughed up a box of "Cocoa Puffs " then began eating

them. He had offered to share some of it with the other penguins. So far, Kowalski and Private were the

only ones who thanked Rico and grabbed a handful of cereal each. Rico then handed the box outward,

toward Skipper, who was still too confused about his feelings and his dream at the time to eat anything.

Skipper glanced over at the box of cereal that was held in front of his face and told Rico " No thanks". The

manic penguin groaned, shrugged, then continued eating the cereal, while waiting for Skipper to tell his

story.

" Yes, Private," Skipper glanced at the young penguin. " A sign. And I need help figuring out its actual

meaning. Okay? Here's my dream. You're all not going to believe this, but I dreamt that I had asked Marlene's

paw in marriage. after we were dating for a while, of course. Anyways. In my dream, after I had proposed to

Marlene and gave her the ring from my last relationship, Lola came out of nowhere, trying to make me feel

guilty by saying somethings just to make me come back to her. But since she had already did what she had

already done to me in the past. I told her that I was not interested in her anymore and that I was now

interested in Marlene. Then after talking, well, actually, arguing for a while, Marlene cuts into the

conversation and tells Lola to go away and find someone else. Then Lola got mad, said some things about

not crawling back to her or whatever she had said. I don't really remember what it was. Then left and got

swooped off by a Capuchin monkey on a flying carpet. Which I thought was very weird to appear in my

dream, since my dreams are usually realistic. Anyways. After that, I had began asking Marlene when

our wedding should be, and right when she was about to answer me, you three woke me up."

" Wow," Kowalski stated, raising both eyebrows, as he and the others took a few more bites of the " Cocoa

Puffs" cereal, then stored the box back inside Rico's stomach. " That was an interesting dream, but as far as

the meaning of it goes. I'll have to get back to you on that one."

" Yeah," Skipper chuckled, feeling a little light headed from skipping lunch. Now he had wished that he had

taken Rico's cereal offer, but he still thought it best to hold up, until dinner time. " And it's kind of a funny

dream, if you think about it. I mean come on. Me and Marlene as a married couple? Please. I've talked to her

and all she wants to be is friends. Plus, she would never want to go out on a date with someone like me in

the first place. That would be ridiculous. Best friends? Dating? What a joke."

" Wait a minute," Private spoke up. " That's not what she told …" Skipper glared at Private.

Private covered his beak with both of his flippers and muffled. " I'll be quiet now."

" Said what," Kowalski asked, remembering every thing that Private had told him about earlier. " That she

actually wants to go out on a date with you?"

" Marlene," Skipper scoffed in denial, still trying to avoid telling the truth. He was still unsure as to whether or

not dating Marlene would be the better path for him. Also, he did not want his team to know that he was

thinking about that, because he did not want them to worry about him." No. She does not like me like that.

And besides, I've already told you. She just wants to be friends with me and nothing more."

Private curled up one of his flippers then coughed into it. "Liar."

Skipper glared at him, feeling a bit more light headed, then growled." You're sliding onto mighty thin ice here,

Private" the lead penguin whispered in a grumbling tone to the young penguin, trying to keep him from

spilling out the plan that he and Marlene had talked about earlier. " Keep it up and I'll put you on

maintenance duty for a year. Understood?" Private whispered a "Yes sir", then kept silent, listening to the

continuing conversation.

" Really," Kowalski cocked an eyebrow then folded his flippers. " Well, if Marlene just wants to be "friends"

with you and nothing more, then why did you two kiss, huh? Explain that."

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Uh,oh. Skipper is trapped with no way out. Looks like he'll have to tell the truth about how Marlene really feels about him, along with their future plans. Anyways. Coming up next in Chapter 9. Catch Skipper's reaction when he finds out that Kowalski knows about the kiss and figures out how he found out about it in the first place. Please stay tuned and find out more. BTW: I'm going to be working on a sequel to another story that a lot of " Skipper's Skipper" readers have been waiting patiently for. It's called " Captain Private". It's not up, yet. So,please don't go searching for it. I still have it on my Document Manager, but it's almost ready to post. Anyways. My updates for both this story and that one might be a little slower than usual, due to time consumption interference. Thank-you for reading this message.


	9. Chapter 9

" To Private's Eyes"

Hello everyone and thank-you for the reviews. Now here comes the next chapter. Please enjoy. BTW: A note to " Skipper's Skipper" readers. The sequel " Captain Private" is finally up and operational. Thank-you for reading this message.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 9

" Kiss," Skipper stuttered, uncomfortably. " Who said that Marlene and I kissed?"

" Well," Kowalski began thinking. " Private told us that you two kissed. Is that affirmative?"

Skipper's heart jumped as his head steamed. That was part of the promise that he had told Private to keep.

"Kissed? Us? No," he then whispered to Private. " Private, were you water logged in your ears or something?

Because I distinctly told you not to tell anybody else about that."

" No you didn't," Private argued out loud. " You told me not to tell any of the neighbors that. You said

nothing about the team."

" When I meant neighbors, " Skipper began growling. " I meant every animal in the zoo!"

" Sorry," Private looked away sadly. " Next time be more clare about it."

" It's pronounced 'clear'," the lead penguin grumbled irritably. " And I was being clear, Private."

" Actually, Skipper," Kowalski stepped in, eavesdropping on the conversation. " I have to agree with Private.

We are your team. Roomies. We're not your neighbors. Ergo, the promise is null in void. So, did you two kiss

or not?"

" Well," Skipper flinched, scratching the back of his head, as his team stared at him curiously." Yes, but only

off to the sides of our mouths."

" Nuh-uh," Private pointed at Skipper, recalling the memory that terrified him. " Your mouths were touching. I

saw you. Plus, you have some black lipstick on the end of your beak."

" Private? I am definitely putting you on maintenance duty for a year just for saying that," Skipper panicked,

blushing as he wiped the lipstick off with his flipper. " Our mouths were not touching. It just looked that way

from where you were standing. You see? I was simply helping Marlene out by helping her rehearse for a

kissing scene in an upcoming play called " Hugs and Kisses". And to make it seem more realistic, she put

lipstick on my beak then had me smudge it when I kissed off to the side of her mouth. That was all. There

was no actual kissing involved. Alright?"

" Skipper," Kowalski interrupted, knowing that there was no play called that, let alone the presence of an

upcoming play. " You're not being very sincere to us."

" And how do you know that," Skipper put his flippers on his hips. His lack of food had suddenly began to

take a bigger toll on him, making him feel quite dizzy.

" You may not have noticed this, Skipper," Kowalski stated in a matter-of-fact tone. " But you have a panicky

little tone in your voice when you lie and try to hide things from everybody."

" I do you not have a panicky little tone in my voice when I lie and try to hide things from everybody,"

Skipper squeaked then realized the tone in his voice right away. " Oh my gosh. You're right. Okay. Here's the

truth. We did kiss each other on the lips, but we're not dating, yet, because I'm not ready for it. Also,

Marlene does want to be more than just friends with me. Okay? There I said it. I told the truth. Are you

happy now?"

The other three penguins looked at the lead penguin with satisfied smiles on their faces. " Yes."

"Alright then," Skipper said as his voice relaxed from telling the truth. He then glanced over at Kowalski. "

Kowalski, can I have a moment to talk with you here, privately, please?"

" Of course, Skipper," Kowalski responded, a little unsure if he was going to get in trouble with butting into

his leader's personal love life.

" And as for you two," Skipper looked over at Rico and Private. " Do you think you could go outside?"

" Sure, Skipper," Private responded with his usual cheery tone and ran directly out through the fishbowl

entrance. Rico nodded his head in agreement and went to follow.

Just as he was about to waddle over toward the ladder, which was underneath the fishbowl entrance,

Skipper put his flipper out in front of him and whispered into his ear. " Whatever you do. Keep Private away

from here for a little while. Okay," Rico nodded his head as Skipper continued. " He's too young to hear any

of this stuff right now and I don't want to scar him for life or turn him into a worry-wart. Got it?" The manic

penguin quickly nodded his head one last time then dodged out the fishbowl entrance. Kowalski and Skipper

watched as the fishbowl covered the entrance hole in the ceiling. The two then waddled over and sat down

at the cinder block table, across from each other.

" So," Kowalski began nervously. " What is it that you want to talk to me about?"

" It's about Lola, again," Skipper's eyes saddened as he looked down at his flippers, which were relaxing on

the table.

" Lola," Kowalski gave the lead penguin a concerned look. " Look Skipper. I know that you're still in love with

her and want her back, but..."

" It's not that," Skipper raised his voice, looking up. " It's something else about her that's bugging me."

" Oh," Kowalski raised his eyebrow. " Alright? Please continue."

" Okay," Skipper began. " Before I continue. Do you even know the reason why I'm not dating Marlene right

away?"

" Because you're still afraid and hurt from Lola and you feel like you'll be betraying her, just like she betrayed

you, if you start dating Marlene," Kowalski quickly responded.

" How did you know that," Skipper widened his eyes, as he looked around the room suspiciously. " Do you

have a mind reading machine lying around or something?"

" No, Skipper," Kowalski said in a calm tone. " I've just known you ever since our days with the down

feathers. You're not that hard for me to figure out anymore. Plus, for the record, I knew that it was you all

along who started that food fight back at the mess hall while we were in military school. Not to mention that

I also knew it was you who soiled my best blue print of the shrink ray in the process of your little

shenanigan."

" Oh, man ," Skipper slapped himself on the forehead, shamefully. " I've gotten predictable, unless Private

told you about that?"

"No, Private did not tell me that and you're not predictable," Kowalski smiled, as Skipper kept his flipper on

his forehead, staring at him with disbelief. " More like easy to read. That, and you were the only one I knew

in military school, who was actually brave enough to touch and eat the gruel covered halibut. Now. Are you

going to continue what you were going to say to me or are you just going to sit there with your flipper glued

to your forehead? Because if you don't feel comfortable continuing this conversation. I'd be more than happy

to dismiss this meeting myself, if you want, and continue this another time when you're ready to talk about

whatever it is about Lola that you want to talk to me about. So, please kindly take your pick and I'll be happy

to go along with whatever you decide." He said willingly, in a brotherly tone, and waited patiently for Skipper

to answer.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Whoa. Kowalski didn't even need to read Skipper's diary or hear anything from Private to know that he was the one, who had secretly started the food fight. Even though it's not a secret now that a few others already know about it. Anyways. Coming up next in Chapter 10. Catch Skipper's response to Kowalski's friendly suggestion. Please stay tuned and find out more. BTW: I may be going on another camping trip this Thursday. I'm not sure when I'll be back, but I'm sure that I won't be gone for as long as last time. Thank-you for reading this message.


	10. Chapter 10

" To Private's Eyes"

Thanks for the reviews everyone. They were great. Now here's the next chapter. I'm not sure exactly how many more chapters I'm going to write for this story. So don't worry about the ending coming up anytime too soon just yet. Anyways. Please enjoy.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 10

Skipper kept glancing at Kowalski then removed his flipper from his face. " Alright. I'll continue," the lead

penguin took a deep breath as his saddened eyes returned. He then lowered his head. " The thing that's

been bugging me about Lola is that I really, really, really want to let her go this time so that I can start

dating Marlene, but I'm...having...trouble with it and...I need help."

Kowalski observed Skipper's facial expressions carefully. He could tell that Skipper was stressing out and on

the verge of tears. " You know, Skipper," the tall penguin began talking comfortingly. " If it helps. I say you

should go on to dating Marlene and just forget all about Lola. After all, Marlene's more faithful, has a brain,

and is not an inanimate object."

The lead penguin sighed as his eyes returned half way back to normal. " I know," Skipper looked up at

Kowalski. "But it still feels wrong. You know?"

" Skipper? Hello? She betrayed you first," Kowalski raised his voice in a reasonable tone. " And besides,

you're the one who chose to divorce her. Remember?"

" Yes, I remember, but I still feel guilty about leaving her for another woman," Skipper's saddened eyes

returned, once more, as he grabbed the upper part of his flipper with the end of his other flipper. " I mean,

what if Lola decides to come back and finds me with Marlene?"

" Skipper? Let me tell you something," Kowalski pointed his flipper in Skipper's face and began talking

authoratively, but sensitively. " Lola was the one who betrayed you and it's her fault that you two aren't

together anymore. Okay? End of story. Don't let someone like that ever ruin your chances with another

woman, which could possibly be your true soul-mate. Alright?"

" I know that," Skipper stated irritably as he pushed Kowalski's flipper away then glanced down at the table.

He was about to have an emotional breakdown." What I don't know is how to get Lola off of my mind so that

I can date Marlene. Let's face it. I'm a thorn stuck between two roses here with no way out. No way out

what-so-ever. I'm stuck there forever," Skipper sniffled as he started to stop talking and covered his tear

filled eyes with both of his flippers. The lead penguin suddenly bursted out crying, still keeping his eyes

covered.

Kowalski looked at him worriedly, unsure of what to do now, until he thought of an idea. " That's not true,"

the tall penguin reassured, reaching over the table, putting a flipper on Skipper's shoulder. " There are

many ways out."

" Name one," Skipper sniffled, again, uncovering his now red, irritated eyes. He stopped crying for a little

bit, wiped the tears out of his eyes, then glanced up at Kowalski to listen to him.

" Hedge clippers, for one," Kowalski said jokingly, hoping to cheer Skipper up and make him laugh.

" Ha. Ha," Skipper said in his usual sarcastic tone as he folded his flippers. " Very funny. As a matter of fact

that was so funny that I almost died from laughing about it."

" Sorry. I was just trying to help," Kowalski frowned as he removed his flipper from Skipper's shoulder. "

Look. Why don't you spend more time with Marlene? Not as dates, yet, but as a means of finding out how

much you two have in common, so you can forget about Lola and transition into your new love relationship

more easily."

" Look, Kowalski," Skipper raised a skeptic eyebrow. " As clever as that sounds. I don't think that's going to

work."

" You can try it," Kowalski urged. " I mean come on. Your dream was practically screaming at you to get out

of that hole of heartbreak and find someone new. And who knows, maybe you might wind up marrying

Marlene someday and actually be together with her for the rest of both of your lives."

" I don't know," Skipper stuttered, thinking about how exciting and more joyful his relationship would be with

Marlene then took a deep breath. " Okay. I'll give it a shot. Here I go." The lead penguin confidently stood up

from the table and waddled over to the ladder, toward the fishbowl entrance. Kowalski watched him,

shocked, but glad that he was going through with all of this. Suddenly, Skipper stopped at the ladder,

lowered his head, and sighed with a depressed groan.

Kowalski, who was still sitting at the table, dropped his jaw and rushed up to the lead penguin. " What

happened," the tall penguin questioned with concern, raising his eyebrows. " I thought you said you were

going over to Marlene's?"

" I can't do this," Skipper mumbled, making it difficult for Kowalski to hear.

" What," Kowalski leaned the side of his head, cupping his ear, trying to listen to Skipper.

" I said I can't do this," Skipper looked up as he barked, making Kowalski cover his ear in pain.

" Well, why not," Kowalski argued, uncovering his ear.

" I'm just not ready for this," the lead penguin waddled off toward the headquarters' bathroom, lowering his

head in melancholy.

Kowalski watched Skipper head toward the door, on the other side of the bunks, which led to the bathroom,

then ran up in front of him. " Come on, Skipper," the tall penguin stretched out his flippers to block the door.

"What have you got to lose? The sooner you go through with this. The easier it'll be for you to let go of the

past and stop being so miserable about Lola. Trust me. I've seen something like this happen before. It'll all

turn out fine."

" Kowalski, " Skipper stared at the tall penguin. " How do you know if it'll turn out fine? Plus, how do you

even know that this won't make me more miserable than I already am?"

"So far, the only thing that's keeping you miserable is that you keep worrying about what Lola thinks, rather

than what your heart thinks will make you happy," Kowalski stated, staring back at the lead penguin.

" Kowalski," Skipper folded his flippers, impatiently. " Do you want to know what my heart thinks will make

me happy right now? That you move out of the way and let me have time to myself to sulk in the bathroom."

" I'm not moving anywhere and neither are you," Kowalski folded his flippers, stubbornly, but still showing

concern. " Look. I know that I'm risking insubordination here, but I'm only trying to help you out. Not as a

team member, but as a friend."

Skipper groaned in defeat. " Fine," he flung his flippers high in to the air. " If I go through with the whole

spending time with Marlene plan and date her. Will you promise to be quiet about it?" Skipper lowered his

flippers down to his sides, waiting for Kowalski to respond.

" Yes," Kowalski smiled sincerely, satisfied to see that Skipper was finally starting to agree with his plan, so

far. " I promise. I won't speak about it anymore after that. As a matter of fact, I Soldier's promise. So, will

you go through with the plan?"

________________________________________________________________________________________

Wow. He was so close to going over to Marlene's that time and asking her out. So close. And if I'm starting to tease anybody with Skipper's let go, don't let go thing with the hula doll . LOL. I'm sorry. It wasn't meant to be written that way. It's not suppose to be any type of soap opera. The story is just mainly focused on Skipper's internal, emotional struggle to let go of Lola for Marlene. Anyways. Coming up next in Chapter 11. Catch the answer to Kowalski's question to Skipper.( I know. This is the third time in a row I stopped at Kowalski's lines, but they make such great cliff hangers in this part of the story. LOL.) Please stay tuned and find out more.


	11. Chapter 11

" To Private's Eyes"

Thanks for the reviews everyone. They were awesome. Now here's the next chapter. I still have no idea how many more chapters I'm going to type for this, seeing that the story kind of guides me by itself. Also, I may revise this chapter, again. I don't know. I'm still deciding on it. Also my brain's been a little slack lately and I don't know why, but probably because I've been on summer vacation for over a month. LOL. Anyways. Please enjoy.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 11

He smiled at Skipper hopefully, waiting for him to answer. The lead penguin stared at him in thought." Oh. All

right. I'll go through with the plan," Skipper smiled then waddled toward the fishbowl entrance, once more.

He stopped at the ladder and took a deep breath. " Here I go, again. Wish me luck." He glanced over at

Kowalski, who gave him an assuring look. He wished him good luck then saluted him. He returned the

salute to the tall penguin then climbed up the ladder and out through the fishbowl entrance.

As soon as he got up to the top of the platform, he looked over at Marlene's habitat. He noticed that she

was outside, floating on her back in her swimming pond, and smiling joyfully. Skipper exhaled deeply then

marched over to Marlene's and climbed up the brick wall, which surrounded her habitat. Right after he

climbed up the wall, he hung onto the top of it, with his flippers folded. He then peeked his head over the

edge at Marlene. The expression on his face had turned completely nervous. Suddenly, he began to feel

really dizzy from hunger, again. The lead penguin kept thinking to himself. _Why did I have to choose to wait _

_until __dinner to __eat? __Please don't pass out. Please don't pass out_. Soon, Marlene noticed Skipper with his faint

expression, became concerned, then swam over to check up on him.

" Skipper," Marlene climbed out of her pond and onto a huge flat rock, close to the wall. " Are you okay?"

Skipper snapped out of his faint expression. " I'm fine," he stuttered as he climbed over the wall and landed

on the same rock that Marlene was on. " Just a little exhausted. That's all."

" Oh," Marlene studied Skipper's face, noticing his irritated, red eyes, once more, but chose not to say

anything about them. " You look hungry. Do you want some sardines? They're still good to eat."

Upon hearing Marlene's offer, Skipper decided to give in and accept the sardines. Marlene then went inside

her cave. When she came out, she brought out a plastic plate of sardines, swam over to the rock with one

arm, while holding the plate above the water with the other, and handed them over to Skipper, while

remaining in her pond. " Thank-you," Skipper smiled gratefully, with a soft voice, as he took the plate from

her. He then remembered what he was going to do. " Marlene, do you have a minute?"

" Sure, Skipper," Marlene smiled widely, climbing out of the pond and onto the rock, again. " You have my

undivided attention."

" Well, I've been thinking about what we've talked about earlier," the lead penguin stumbled nervously,

staring at his feet. " And I've been wondering. Would you like to spend some time together and go out

on a date with me tomorrow night? I'm ready for it now."

Marlene stood in silence, staring at Skipper with raised eyebrows then squealed as she lunged forward,

hard, hugging Skipper. Due to her surprise attack, she caused him to lose his balance, sending both him, her,

and the plate of sardines into the water, both separately and sideways. Little did they know, her squeal and

the loud splash that she and Skipper had made, had attracted the lemurs attention next door, causing them

to all turn their heads to see what was happening. They all began watching, silent, but confused and

concerned about the sudden disturbance. Soon, Skipper, Marlene, and the spilled sardines had all surfaced

to the top of the water. The couple soon began keeping afloat, while coughing and laughing at the same

time. Skipper, who still had the empty plate in his flippers, sat it down on the rock that he and Marlene had

fallen off of. Suddenly, Marlene wrapped her arms around Skipper tightly, again, almost breaking his spine in

half. " Skipper," the otter moved back a little to stare into the penguin's eyes, now keeping a hold of his

flippers." I would love to go out on a date and spend time with you tomorrow."

" Great," Skipper smiled as he shouted excitedly, trying to keep afloat with his feet. " What should we do?"

" I don't know," Marlene shrugged, copying the same thing that Skipper was doing, while still hanging onto

his flippers. " How about we go out for dinner, dancing, and a walk around Central Park?"

" Marlene," Skipper responded. " That sounds great and all. But to be honest with you, I don't know how to

dance, except for the waltz and I don't like the waltz. How about we go out for popcorn, watch a film at the

movie theatre, and then take a stroll around Central Park?"

" What are we," Marlene raised her voice. " A couple of teenagers? That's so old fashioned, plus I can teach

you how to dance, if you want, unless, you'd prefer to waltz?"

" Alright," Skipper folded his flippers, letting go of Marlene, still keeping afloat. " Since neither of us can

decide. How about we combine them? We can eat dinner first, dance, watch a movie, and then take a stroll

around the park. How does that sound?"

" Nah," Marlene responded. " Sounds too expensive and exhausting for one night. How about we do one

option tonight then save the other option for another night? Sound good?"

" Works for me," Skipper pondered, then took a flipper to the bottom of his beak. " But which one should we

do first?"

" How about we do mine first? Since I am the lady," Marlene responded, pointing to herself.

" Forget it," Skipper scoffed. " I'm the one who came over here and asked you out. We should go along with

my idea."

" But you asked me what we should do first," Marlene argued as she poked Skipper lightly on the tip of

his with one of her fingers then folded her arms. " So, I get to decide what to do. And I still say that we

should go along with my idea."

" Okay," Skipper folded his flippers, thinking then smiled deviously. " Since both of us want our ideas to

come first. How about we go head to head in a game of Chess? Winner decides on the date. Deal?"

Skipper held out his flipper, waiting for Marlene's response. Marlene smiled back. It was like he had been

communicating with her telepathically. " Deal," she held out her paw and grabbed Skipper's flipper, shaking

it, then stopped. Soon, the pair both pulled each other close with their gripped appendages and kissed like

they did earlier, but for a little longer. This is what Skipper had called a " Hello kiss". Luckily, for Skipper,

Marlene was not wearing any lipstick that time, so he would not have to worry about being embarrassed,

again, later. Unfortunately, the lemurs saw them kiss, gasped, and stared, causing Maurice to shield Mort's

eyes. Soon, Skipper and Marlene pulled apart then released each other's grips. Marlene stated in her

competitive tone." Don't forget to bring your best dancing shoes with you," she smiled teasingly as both she

and Skipper lowered their appendages back into the water to help keep afloat a little more better. " Because

you're going down this time."

" Oh, trust me. I will forget them, because you're the one who will be going down, as usual" the lead

penguin stated, smiling jokingly. " Meet me at my place at 1900 hours tonight for the competition."

" Why 1900 hours," Marlene raised an eyebrow. " And exactly what time is that in regular time, anyway?"

" It means seven o'clock in the evening and my team and I eat dinner at 1830 hours or six-thirty in the

evening," Skipper retorted. " And it takes me about fifteen minutes to a half an hour to eat and settle down

before expecting any company."

" Oh," Marlene stared into Skipper's eyes as he stared back into hers then smiled. " Well, in that case, see

you at 1900 hours then."

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Wow. What a way to decide on a date. Yay! The pair has finally gotten together! ( Claps happily then stops) Oh, man. The lemurs saw them kiss, too. Poor Mort. He will probably have nightmares like Private will for a long time. LOL . BTW: I will mention why Skipper doesn't like the waltz later. Anyways. Coming up next in Chapter 12. See who wins the Chess match and decides on the date. Please stay tuned and find out.


	12. Chapter 12

" To Private's Eyes"

Thanks for the reviews everyone. They were awesome. Just thought I'd let everyone know that the reason why this story is called " To Private's Eyes" was because Private found Skipper's diary. That's all. It was also the first title that popped into my head one day, while I was thinking of possible stories to type up. Also, thanks JV's Jack for pointing out Private's loss as the lead role in the plot. I really appreciated it. I guess, there is more than one lead role character in the plot line of the story now and it mostly varies between Skipper and Private within time and in chapters mostly because of the conflicts involved and the diary that took place, which I will bring back later on. Just to let everyone know that, I kind of wrote the story this way on purpose, but at the same time by accident. At times, I can't help but switch in between main characters, because it brings out new lights to the story. Also, I wrote this story just for fun and I believe that there is some signs of SkipperXMarlene in the t.v. series. Thank-you for reading this message. Anyways. Here's the next chapter. I may revise this, again. BTW: I'm thinking about writing a sequel to this story. I don't know. I'm still thinking about it. Note: remaining chapters left in this story is still unknown. Anyways. Please Enjoy.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 12

Then, without warning, she kissed Skipper on the cheek and swam toward her cave, smiling. Skipper kept

afloat silently, touching his cheek for a moment while watching her go inside, and smiled widely. He sighed

ecstatically then turned around to go back to his habitat. Right after he hopped over the wall of the otter

habitat, with his flipper still on his cheek, two of the lemurs jumped in front of him. " Whoa," Skipper jumped,

removing his flipper from his cheek, ready to attack then groaned when he realized who it was. " What do

you two want?"

" Well for my very first kingly wish," King Julien began, using his fingers to keep track of his wishes. " I wish I

had forever more wishes and to be the king of the sky spirits."

" I didn't mean that," Skipper smacked himself in the forehead. " Besides. I'm not a genie, so I can't grant

you any wishes. And even if I was a genie, which I'm not, I still wouldn't grant you any of them, anyway."

" I'll take it from here, your majesty," Maurice stated to the tallest lemur then turned to Skipper. He paused

for a moment, thinking of what he was going to say.

" Well," Skipper folded his flippers and tapped his foot on the ground. " What is it that you want?"

" Skipper," Maurice began, fidgeting with his paws. " We've kind of been wondering. What exactly happened

between you and Marlene back there? You know? The whole being close to each other and acting all lovey-

dovey like. What was that all about?"

" It's non of your lemurs' business," Skipper stated, defensively, thinking best not to start the whole " You

saw us" conversation.

" But as your kingly king," King Julien butted in. " I have the rightly, right to know everybody's busy-ness."

He thought to himself then gasped. " Oh? I know what it is to being. You two are to be in loving, yes?"

Skipper gasped, blushing. " Well… Uh, " the lead penguin stuttered nervously, snapped back to normal

then waddled passed the lemurs, toward the penguins' habitat. " Look, I've got to go. See ya, lemurs!" He

raced toward the platform inside the habitat and climbed through the fishbowl entrance.

The lemurs stood silently as they watched the fishbowl move across the platform and stop. " I take that as

to being a yes," King Julien put his paws on his hips as he turned to Maurice.

" Gee. You think so," Maurice folded his arms. " The last time I've seen him run and act like that was when he

was dating Lola." The Aye-Aye thought, remembering that he had walked in on the couple in the wrecked

airplane, while they were still in Madagascar. He barged in right when Skipper was wrapping his flipper

around Lola's shoulder, while watching a film about airplane crashes. Skipper saw Maurice at the corner of

his eye then ran out of the plane, leaving the lemur confused about it, until today.

" Yeah," King Julien pondered. " You know. I am not to be remembering what happened to her? But, I am to

be knowing that she was very pretty."

" The last time I checked. Skipper married and divorced her," Maurice began, taking a paw to his chin. " But I

never caught the reason why. It was something about a monkey? Come on. Let's go home." The lemurs both

went back to their habitat and relaxed, trying to forget what they had just saw happen between Skipper

and Marlene. Also, each lemur had made a promise not to mention anything about it ever happening to

anyone. That is, until Private and Rico decided to visit them, shortly after visiting the other animals in the

zoo. After they had went there, the three lemurs babbled like parrots to the two penguins, leading both of

them to rush back to the headquarters to check on Skipper.

Meanwhile, after Skipper rushed inside, panting, Kowalski approached him over by the bunks. " So," he

began with a hopeful smile, but at the same time concerned. " How'd the plan go?"

" Great," Skipper thought for a second. " Oh? Just thought I'd let you know that Marlene will be coming over

here for a game of Chess at 1900 hours. We're trying to determine who's idea for a date should come first."

" Okay," Kowalski raised an eyebrow. " But why are you both deciding on a date this way?"

" We kept on arguing about it," Skipper shrugged. " So we decided to settle it by playing a game of Chess."

" Oh," Kowalski stated acceptingly. " Alright. That's a new one. But you do realize that you both get

extremely competitive at Chess, right?"

"Oh, trust me. I know," Skipper stated firmly. " But I can still beat her. I mean I've already taken her down in

several Chess matches before. What are the odds that she will win this one?"

Kowalski pulled out his abacus from behind his back then began calculating. " About slim to none," he stated

out loud then put his abacus away. " But that slim chance could still end up in Marlene winning the Chess

match." Skipper stared at Kowalski, not even the slightest bit worried. Just then, Rico and Private came back

home through the fishbowl entrance.

" Can we come back in now," Private asked curiously while Rico leaned on the ladder and yawned.

" Yes. You can come back in now," Skipper retorted as the two penguins waddled over and sat down at the

table. " So what did you two wind up doing?"

" We toured around the entire zoo, visiting the other animals," Private stated, recalling that they had just

stopped by the lemurs' habitat then went home from there. He had also recalled from earlier that he had

felt queasy, while visiting the mother duck over by Marlene's habitat, who he had help egg sat for a while

back ago, but figured the feeling was because he had missed his own mother. During a zoo transfer, right

after he had gotten his swimming feathers, Private was accidently separated from his mother, by being place

in another crate, and had not seen her, again, ever since. Suddenly, after thinking, Private decided to start

asking Skipper questions. " So, " Private began." What did you and Kowalski talk about?"

" Well to tell you the truth," Skipper started, knowing that Private was ready to hear this. " I talked to

Kowalski about Marlene and well, I'm going to be dating her now, plus I've finally decided to give up on

Lola."

" Skipper that's brilliant," Private cheered. " I have a question though. What is dating?"

" I'll explain it to you later, " Skipper retorted as he and Kowalski waddled toward him. " Maybe after we eat

dinner."

" Oh," Private stated. " Alright. But why after dinner?" Skipper explained to Private that Marlene was coming

over and then told him that that would be the better time to explain it to him. After listening to Skipper,

Private and Rico decided to each take a nap in their bunks, until dinnertime. After dinner, the penguins

helped Skipper set up the chessboard by helping him clean off the table of the left over food. While they

were cleaning and setting up the board, Skipper explained to Private what dating was, but he had only

told him a short outline about it, that was suitable for him to hear, just to give the young penguin a basic

idea.

Soon, 1900 hours had come, and Marlene had arrived, knocking on the door, by the bunks. Skipper opened

it, welcoming her inside. When she came in, she noticed that the chessboard was all set up on the cinder

block table. She had also noticed that the other three penguins were there, all ready as both the audience

and judges by the table. " Hey, guys," Marlene smiled as she waved to them. They all waved back. Marlene

then turned to Skipper. " Okay, Skipper," Marlene put her paws on her hips. " Are you ready to play Chess?"

" I was hatched ready," Skipper smirked deviously. They both walked to and sat across from each other at

the cinder block table. Marlene sat on the side with the white puns, while Skipper sat on the side with the

black puns. " Ladies first," he grinned as he gestured with his flipper.

Marlene smiled back at him. " You're too kind," she stated as she moved one of the puns on the board then

relaxed her paw on the table. Next, Skipper took his turn then put a flipper to his chin afterwards,

concentrating on future moves. About an hour later, most of the puns on the board were out of the game. It

was now a complete tie between the two, until it was Marlene's turn. She had taken one of her figures and

placed it in front of Skipper's king. " Check Mate," Marlene cheered as she threw her arms up into the air. " I

win! Time to get your dancing shoes out, Skipper, because I'm going to teach you how to dance. Who's the

otter? I'm the otter!"

Skipper gawked at the gloating Marlene then at the board. Soon, he turned to Kowalski, who was now

standing right next to him, checking the move that Marlene had made on the board. " Kowalski," the lead

penguin began whispering. " What were the odds of her winning, again?"

" Slim to none," Kowalski retorted, before noting that the move that Marlene had made was correct. " But I

also mentioned that she still had a chance of winning and, well, that was the chance. Sorry. Better luck next

time."

" Great," he replied sarcastically then turned to Marlene, curiously. " So, Marlene, when do these dance

lessons start?"

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( Invader Zim style) Victory! Victory for Marlene!( Okay back to normal here) LOL. Sorry. I just had to do that. And Private with the queasiness while visiting the mother duck earlier? Hmm? ( Pinky and the Brain style) Readers, are you pondering what I'm pondering? ( normal again)What? It was just an idea that popped into my head after reading Esperata's story " Wooden Heart". BTW: Thank-you Esperata for that inspiration and I give you full credit for coming up with that idea. Note:I really didn't want to bring any new characters into the story this late, plus there weren't any other available female animals around the zoo in the t.v. series that I could use, besides Doris, but Kowalski already has a crush on her, so I'm leaving her alone. Maybe I'll add a new character later. Perhaps in the sequel, if I decide to write it. It's suppose to take place during Skipper's and Marlene's first date. The title is undecided right now, until further notice. Anyways. Coming up next in Chapter 13. Catch Marlene's response to Skipper's question and see how well Skipper does with the dance lessons. Please stay tuned and find out more. BTW: I'm also thinking about typing a RicoXDoll story later on down the road. It's suppose to be a humorous tale about Rico and his Doll going out on a date on the platform and " eating" dinner together. Please let me know what you think about it, so, I can begin working on it as soon as possible. Sorry that I've been such a chatter box during this chapter, but there's alot of stuff that I wanted to cover. Thank-you for reading this message.


	13. Chapter 13

" To Private's Eyes"

Thanks for the reviews everyone. They were wonderful. Now here's the next chapter. BTW: This is the second to the last chapter( final chapter is Chapter 14) before I begin to work on the sequel, " The Skipper, the Marlene, and the Ups and Downs". BTW: I made a mistake in the first chapter, about Skipper not wanting anyone to know that he was part Emperor penguin, because of the yellow feathers. Yeah. It turns out that Rock Hoppers have those. LOL. Anyway, I'd like to thank Hylianheroine2 for bringing that to my attention. I really appreciated it. Anyways. Please enjoy.

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Chapter 13

Marlene stopped gloating then smiled at Skipper. " Well if our date is tomorrow," she pondered. " I'd say,

right now."

" Right now," Skipper responded nervously then pointed toward the other penguins. " With my team

standing here?"

" Yes," Marlene nodded her head. " Of course. That is if you're okay with it? I mean, look on the bright side.

Maybe your team might pick up a few dance moves as well and use them for any future dates that they may

have."

Skipper pondered for a moment. " Alright," he responded in defeat. " For the sake of our date and any future

dates for my team members, I'll learn to dance with you here, but no waltzing. The Waltz is too slow and

boring for me, plus it makes me fall asleep during the first half of the first count, because of the slow rocking

motions."

" Alright," Marlene smiled pleasingly, walking around the table, and grabbing onto Skipper's flippers. They

had began deciding on which dance that they wanted to start out with first. Meanwhile, the others sat down

at the table, waiting for the couple to make their decision. Eventually, the couple decided to start off with

the Cha-Cha, since it was quick paced and enjoyable to do, plus, Skipper figured he would most likely stay

energized during the whole dance. Soon, the Cha-Cha dance lessons had begun and the couple was having

a wonderful time being together. At first, the counts for the dance started out slow to allow time for Skipper

to memorize the steps. As time passed by, the counts had gotten faster and the lead penguin had soon

picked up on the steps through repetition of the dance moves.

Private, who was sitting at the farthest end from the door, at the table, was watching the pair with both

amusement and curiosity, while Rico and Kowalski were busy playing a game of Chess and glancing up at

the dancing couple in between turns. " Whoa! Amazing," the young penguin said under his breath. " That

looks like fun." He continued to watch, but had to flinch a few times, because Skipper kept stepping on

Marlene's feet by accident, causing her to yelp in pain. After a few more practices, Skipper became better at

where to place his feet and eventually stopped stepping on Marlene's feet. Soon, after about a couple of

exhausting hours, the two decided to end the Cha-Cha lessons for the night. Afterwards, Marlene decided to

go home. Before she left, Skipper had thanked Marlene for the lessons then they both gave each other a

hug. Right after they hugged, she left through the door. Private approached his leader, who was standing in

the doorway, waving good-bye at Marlene then blowing her a kiss. The young penguin stopped right beside

him, waiting to speak. Rico and Kowalski had already went to their bunks when Private decided to talk to

the lead penguin.

" Um, Skipper," the young penguin asked nervously. " Is that one of the things that you told me about that's

suppose to be part of a date?"

" Yes, Private," Skipper stopped waving, closed the door then turned around to the young penguin. " That is

one of the things. Good night." The lead penguin stated then waddled over to his bunk and climbed into it.

Just as he was about to doze off, Private waddled up to the side of his bunk and interrupted him.

" Um, Skipper," Private recalled the queasy feeling that he thought about earlier.

" Yes, Private," Skipper yawned, keeping his eyes closed. " What is it now?"

" I have another question," Private scratched at one of his flippers. " Do you ever miss your mum?"

" Now why are you asking me that question for," Skipper opened his eyes and sat up in his bunk, staring at

the young penguin.

" No particular reason," Private stated, ceasing the scratching. " I was just wondering."

" Oh," Skipper raised an eyebrow. " Well, if it'll help you sleep tonight and me. Yes, I do miss her."

" What do you feel when you miss her," Private questioned curiously.

" Well," Skipper pondered taking a flipper to the bottom of his beak. " Sad sometimes. Almost like I've been

taken away from her forever, but she's still alive and I still get postcards from her from time to time. Let's

see. What else do I feel when I miss her?"

" Queasy," Private quickly added. " Almost like you want to vomit when you think about her?"

Skipper stared at Private with confusion. " What," he squeaked. " Private, what is this about, exactly?

Where are you trying to get at here?" Private whispered to Skipper about where he and Rico had gone

earlier, along with everything else, while he was inside with Kowalski. Skipper smiled, chuckled lightly, and

folded his flippers.

" What," Private raised an eyebrow and shrugged with his flippers half way up in the air. " What's so

funny?"

" It has nothing to do with you missing your momma, Private," Skipper muttered, trying to control his

chuckle.

" What does it have to do with then, if not missing my mum," Private questioned, lowering his flippers down

to his sides.

" Well, Private, " Skipper began, laying a flipper on Private's shoulder. " Let's just say that you're… How

should I put this into terms that you would understand? Oh, yeah? You're " twitterpated"."

" I'm what," Private shrieked, not believing his leader's words. Skipper shushed Private to keep him from

waking up the others. The young penguin then went back to whispering. " With whom?"

" The mother duck that you helped egg sat for," Skipper stated, removing his flipper from the young

penguin's shoulder then laying back down. " Now, go to bed. We'll talk about this in the morning, along with

" The talk"."

" Okay, Skipper," Private stated, still trying to calm down from the shock, while climbing up into his own

bunk. He thought to himself as he laid down, falling asleep, now knowing part of what falling in love was

like. Soon, he tossed and turned a bit before peeking over the edge at Skipper. He had already fallen

asleep." Um, Skipper," the young penguin whispered fiercely.

" What," Skipper groaned, waking up.

" What did you mean by " The talk"," Private raised an eyebrow.

" It's a conversation about the facts of life, which I will explain to you before everyone else is awake,"

Skipper whispered irritably. " Now sleep!"

" Okay," Private stuck his head back in his own bunk, rested it on his pillow, and mouthed words to himself. "

The facts of life…what?" Eventually, his thoughts put him to sleep and he began to snore lightly. Skipper,

who was now cranky and overtired, could not sleep one wink. Eventually, he felt underneath his pillow for

his diary to write in, but it was not there. He suddenly began searching around the whole headquarters,

quietly, until he found what he was looking for. Apparently, he had left his diary in the bathroom when he

had locked himself in there earlier. Skipper quickly snatched his diary and ran to the kitchen table. He pulled

out a flashlight and pen from underneath the table then began writing in his diary.

" _Skipper's Private Journal,_

_Today was a pretty rough day for me. For the first time in my whole life I had trouble picking which girl I wanted _

_to keep in my life forever. It was quite confusing, but thanks to talking to Kowalski about it, I've finally made my _

_decision. Marlene. That's right. I went there. She is so great and a much better dancer than Lola ever was. Oh, _

_just thought I should let you know, Private fell in love for the first time today and with that mother duck that we _

_egg sat for, too. Any who, I'm going to go have " The talk" with him tomorrow. He will practically be jumping out _

_of his feathers. I know I did, when my daddy told me about the " Birds and the Bees", plus I couldn't go to sleep _

_for days after that. Anyways, I've got to get some sleep. I have soldiers to train in the morning, plus I've got a _

_date with you-know-who tomorrow night. _

_P.S. : I'm sorry that Private found you. I guess, in some way, him doing that was a blessing in disguise for me. _

_Any who. Add ease. I salute you. Good night._"

Skipper stopped writing in his diary and closed it. He then turned off the flashlight and shoved it back

underneath the table, along with the pen. After that, he climbed into his bed, stuffed his diary underneath

his pillow, and went to sleep, hoping that everything would go by smoothly tomorrow.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

LOL. I told you that the diary would come back. And Private's reaction to finding out he was in love with the mother duck and didn't even know it, until Skipper told him. LOL. Sorry, I didn't leave much of a cliff hanger for this one. I didn't want to spoil anything in the next chapter and this was the best spot I could think of to stop. I guess, in someway, it's kind of a cliff hanger, depending on how it's viewed, but to me, the dialogues make much better cliff hangers in this story. Anyways. Coming up next in Chapter 14. The final chapter to the story. Sorry. Friendly reminder. See Private's reaction to " The talk". Also, see how Skipper and Marlene prepare before leaving on their date. Please stay tuned and find out more. BTW: I chose the Cha-Cha, because it's one of my favorite dances to watch and would like to learn one day. I really don't know how to do the Cha-Cha or any other dances. I mainly improvise some old dance moves, such as the swim and the egyptian, into random orders on my own. The only dances that I really know are cheer dances, mostly because I was a cheerleader for three years straight. I know what most of you are thinking. LOL. I'm too nice to have been a cheerleader, but it's true. Besides, the squad that I've cheered with were not the stereo-type, stuck-up, rich, airheads, that people used to think or still think. Thank-goodness. LOL. Not that I'm assuming that you readers think that way. No offense. Any who, they were actually very friendly, hard working, regular class people, who were respectful towards each other and other people, plus they were like a family to me. BTW : I'm just trying to make a point here that cheerleaders are not all bad, plus I was hoping that this covered any questions about me bringing it up. Okay, time to stop blabbing here and come back to the present. LOL. Anyways. Thank-you for reading this message. Sorry, it was so long.


	14. Chapter 14

" To Private's Eyes"

Thanks for the reviews everyone. They were awesome. Now here's the final chapter before the sequel " The Skipper, the Marlene, and the Ups and Downs" kicks off. I already have it on my document manager, so the first chapter should be up soon after this. Maybe in a day or two afterwards, because I want to revise it a few more times before I post it. BTW: I may revise this final chapter, again. Even though I have not done it to any other chapters, yet, I like to post this warning label on here, just in case I do decide to revise it. Anyways. Thank-you for reading this message. Please enjoy.

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Chapter 14

The next day, Skipper had woke up early to find that Private was not in his bunk and nowhere to be found in

the headquarters. He hastily ran towards the ladder and climbed out through the fishbowl entrance to see if

he was outside. When Skipper went outside, he saw Private pacing around on the platform then stopping

every few seconds to look at the mother duck, over by the park bench, with her ducklings. Skipper smirked,

approached Private, and tapped him lightly on the shoulder.

Private let out a scream of terror then turned around to see who it was. " Oh, Skipper," the young penguin

took a sigh of relief. " You gave me a fright."

" Sorry," Skipper muttered. " Come on. Let's go inside. I've got a lot to explain to you in " The talk"." Private

gulped, unsure of what it was going to be about. The two penguins went inside the headquarters and

stopped by the bunks. The other two penguins were still sleeping asleep. " Have a seat," Skipper pointed to

his bunk. " What I'm about to explain to you may cause you to vomit and not sleep for days, but I believe

you're finally ready for this." Private nodded and sat down on the edge of Skipper's bunk, ready to listen.

Soon, Skipper began talking to Private about the facts of life, along with the rest of the details about dating,

but kept it appropriate enough for his age group. While speaking, Skipper did go above the young penguin's

age level a few times, but that was because Private was almost at the age to where he was allowed to hear

stuff like that.

As soon as he was done talking about it, Private's eyes were widened with shock and his white feathers

had become more pale than before. " I think I'm going to vomit," Private groaned grabbing onto his stomach.

" I had no idea that becoming "twitterpated" would lead to things like that."

" Well," Skipper thought for a moment. " Neither did I, until my daddy told me after I had my first crush,

when I was your age. And trust me, my reaction to " The talk" was no better than yours. As a matter of fact,

it was worse."

" What did you do," Private raised an eyebrow. " Vomit on your daddy, right after he told you?"

" No. I fainted," Skipper stated firmly. " And then I vomited my lunch into the bathroom toilet, plus I wouldn't

go to sleep for three weeks, because I thought I'd have nightmares about what my daddy told me. Because,

unlike me, he told me every single detail, which I won't completely reveal to you, until your "Coming of age"

birthday, next month. "

" Oh? Okay," Private retorted nervously, worried that the same reaction was going to happen to him, after

Skipper gives him the rest of the details. He was excited about his birthday coming up next month, but after

hearing what Skipper had told him, he was not looking forward to it, at all. The young penguin had always

loved birthdays and had a great time celebrating them, such as having parties, being with friends, balloons,

music, cake, presents, and games, but this year, it was going to be completely different for him. Private was

finally going to be old enough to know what the other penguins have gone through when they were his

age. He gulped at the thought of it as he still looked worriedly at Skipper, who was still standing at the side

of the bunk.

" Now come on. Get off my bed," Skipper began pointing away from the bunks. " The others will be awake

soon and we have a lot of training to do today." Private nodded his head then jumped off the edge of

Skipper's bed. Soon, the others woke up and the morning training began. After the training was over, Rico,

Kowalski, and Private relaxed at the table. Meanwhile, Skipper ran around the headquarters, getting ready

for his date with Marlene, which was planned at seven o' clock in the evening, after the otter had come over

during their morning training session to remind him.

Both he and Marlene had also planned to dress up nice, just for their first date, because they each wanted it

to be special. Skipper turned to his team, looking a little bit nervous, before speaking. "Okay," he stated as

confidently as possible. " How are my feathers and bowtie?"

" Your feathers are the same, as usual, Skipper," Kowalski began as Rico quickly nodded his head in

agreement. He then glanced down at Skipper's clip on bowtie. " But that red bowtie makes you look like one

of the penguin waiters off of " Mary Poppins". May I suggest the black bowtie for this evening?"

" That'll be excelente," Skipper stated, pulling the red bowtie off then switching it with the black one. He

then began searching around the headquarters for something else.

" What are you looking for, Skipper," Private asked curiously.

" Something special to give to Marlene before we leave on our date," Skipper scratched his head then

groaned. " I wish I had bought a box of chocolates earlier, but no, I forgot all about them." Just then Rico

waddled up to Skipper, coughed up an unopened box of " Cocoa Puffs" and handed it over to him. " That'll

work," he stated, smiling, taking the cereal box. " Thank-you, Rico." Rico grunted a " You're welcome" then

returned to his seat. Soon, a quarter until seven rolled by. Skipper took notice of it then began to leave for

Marlene's, towards the door.

" Skipper," Private shouted, running up to Skipper then stopped. " Wait!"

" What," Skipper stopped and turned around.

" Aren't you forgetting something," Skipper looked at the young penguin with a blank look on his face.

Private took a deep breath then began speaking. " Flowers," he stated after a few seconds. " You forgot to

grab flowers, an essential part of a date. Did you not remember that?"

" Oh," Skipper smacked himself on the forehead with his free flipper. " Flowers? Right. Thanks, Private.

Luckily, I know just where to get flowers."

" Wait," Kowalski butted in, confused, waddling up to the two penguins. " Private knows about this dating

stuff, how?"

" I had " The talk" with him today," Skipper whispered in a hesitated tone as he glanced over at Private. "

He just got his first crush."

" Oh," Kowalski raised both of his eyebrows then whispered. " On who?"

" The mother duck, that we egg sat for," Skipper whispered back. " I'll explain the story to you later. Right

now, I've got to get going." The lead penguin waddled through the door, which lead to Marlene's and the

other animals' habitats. He left the other three penguins behind to fend for themselves.

Kowalski then turned to Private and smiled at him softly. Private began to feel uncomfortable and slowly

glanced over at him. " Why are you looking at me that way," the young penguin stuttered.

" Nothing. You're just growing up fast, is all," Kowalski held his smile, patted Private on the head, and

waddled over to the table. He brought out his tools then began working on his shrink way, which he had

stored in one of the corners of the room, along with his updated blue prints. Private watched him silently,

confused for a moment then waddled over to watch the television.

Meanwhile, at Marlene's, Skipper had arrived at the doorway with the "Cocoa Puffs" cereal and purple

flowers in one of his flippers. He had swiped the flowers from a nearby bush, outside of Marlene's

habitat, along the way, after climbing out of the sewer. They were Marlene's favorite flowers, not to mention

that they were also her favorite color. Skipper took a deep breath then knocked on the outside wall of

Marlene's home. He gawked when he saw Marlene walk out of her home in a purple, sleeveless, ankle

length dress. It had small, fake, silver jewels, that wrapped around the waistline of the gown and a small,

white corsage attached near the right strap, which Marlene had proudly sewn and glued on herself, awhile

back ago, when she used to live in Northern California.

Marlene approached Skipper, who was still staring at her. " Hey, Skipper," Marlene waved her paw in front of

the lead penguin's face.

Skipper snapped back to normal. " Hey, Marlene," he stuttered as he glanced at Marlene's outfit, one more

time. " You look...wow."

" Thanks, Skipper," Marlene retorted then glanced at Skipper's black bowtie. " You look...wow, too."

" Thanks. Kowalski talked me out of the red bowtie. He said that it made me look like a penguin waiter from

" Mary Poppins". Don't ask," Skipper looked back as Marlene chuckled then brought his attention back. "Oh?

Before I forget. These are for you." He smiled as he held out the cereal and flowers to Marlene.

Marlene smiled as Skipper handed them over to her. " Wow, Skipper! These are wonderful. Thank-you," she

kissed Skipper on the end of his beak, leaving black lipstick on him, again. Marlene glanced over at the gifts

that were given to her. She examined the cereal box with curiosity. " Cocoa Puffs," Marlene widened her

smile." I love Cocoa Puffs! I can't believe it. How did you know that this is my favorite cereal? "

" I didn't," Skipper stuttered, rubbing the back of his head. " To be honest with you, I was going to bring you

chocolates, but I forgot to buy them, so Rico gave me a substitute."

" Well either way, it's still sweet and it's special. I love you," Marlene hugged Skipper with the gifts in one of

her paws.

Skipper, who was a little shocked at her reaction, hugged her back." I love you, too," he uttered out.

The two then loosened their arms and stepped backwards. Marlene began to speak, again. " And since

we're being honest here, I don't like chocolates, anyway. They get stuck in my teeth easily, they're too rich,

plus they make me sick to my stomach after having just one bite."

" Really," Skipper raised an eyebrow. " Well, it looks like I picked a good night to be forgetful, huh?"

" Yep," Marlene retorted then glanced at the black lipstick that was still on the end of Skipper's beak. She

giggled, but did not say anything about it. " Anyways. Where should we eat dinner? Because, I haven't the

slightest idea which places there are to eat around here, let alone dance."

" I think I know of a place where we could eat," Skipper put a flipper to his beak, almost touching the spot

where the lipstick was at. " And it is also the perfect place to where we could dance, too, while we're there."

" Wow," Marlene widened her eyes with joy. " Which place is that?"

" You'll see," Skipper retorted. " And you'll enjoy it. I promise. Plus the place doesn't even close until after

mid-night."

" Great," Marlene stated surprisingly then glanced at her gifts. " I should probably put these away before we

go." Skipper smiled and nodded his head at her as she went inside to put the gifts away then came back

outside. " Okay. Now we can go," she smiled as she walked over and held Skipper's flipper. The two began

walking out of the otter habitat together. " So tell me, Skipper," Marlene turned her head to Skipper, causing

him to look over at her. " What is this place like?"

" Like I already told you, Marlene," Skipper smiled, playfully. " You'll see."

" No," Marlene argued as she pointed a finger at Skipper, mover closer to his side. " You told me to wait to

see which place it was, not what it is like. So please, tell me. I promise I won't bug you about it the rest of

the way there."

" Okay," Skipper mumbled as the sound of the word " please" started to eat at him. " I'll tell you, but you

have to act surprise when we get there. Alright?"

" Alright," Marlene smiled in agreement. The couple soon exited the zoo, laughing, both glad to have finally

found their true soul-mate at last.

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Aww. Skipper and Marlene are going out on their first date together. Tear. Tear. BTW: The whole " You look wow" line comes from " The Suite Life of Zach and Cody". I give full credit to the creators of that show for that. I hope you all enjoyed this story, plus I'd like to give a special thanks to all who have read this story, reviewed it, helped me spot out errors that I missed, added it as a favorite, etc... You all have really inspired me to keep moving forward with this story and I really look forward to your spectacular reviews for the sequel " The Skipper, the Marlene, and the Ups and Downs". It's going to be rated K-plus for slight character violence, but not towards any females, though. The K-plus is there for added safety. The story is suppose to be about the couple learning how to get over obstacles in their paths, while trying to keep their love relationship together. BTW: I'd like to give full credit and a special thanks to whomever started the whole Skilene fanfics on this site. I don't know who started it, because I've read too many fanfics to really remember, but I'm giving them full credit for their Skilene idea being posted first, anyway. Also, full credit goes towards the creators of POM, for their characters and scenery. Anyways. That's all I have to type for this. Thank-you for reading this message.


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